Nariman questions domicile law for RS MPs
New Delhi, February 22
The amendment to the Representation of the People Act doing away with the mandatory domicile qualification for Rajya Sabha members came in for a severe attack in the Supreme Court from noted constitutional expert Fali S. Nariman, who said “it has opened the floodgates to power brokers with big money bags to get entry into the House.”

Mulford told to behave: PMNew Delhi, February 22As the UPA government prepares to face the wrath of the Left parties in Parliament on the Iran nuclear issue and the Indo-US nuclear pact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought to buy peace with the Marxists when he assured them that the Centre had conveyed its displeasure to US Ambassador David Mulford about the letter he wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on his criticism of President George Bush.

Armed forces secular: PMNew Delhi, February 22Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the country was poised for 8 to 10 per cent rate of growth and the agenda of equitable development of the UPA government had given a sense of belonging to all sections of society.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi is garlanded with Alphonso
mangoes, well-known in the Konkan region, at a public meeting on
her maiden visit to Malwan in Konkan district on Wednesday. —
PTI photo

Bird flu costs Karnataka Rs 250 crore
Bangalore, February 22
Karnataka has suffered an estimated loss of Rs 250 crore in the past three days
due to fears about consumption of chicken and eggs following reports of bird flu
in Maharashtra.

Test of
samples confirms presence of human partsNew Delhi, February 22Human parts and animal remains were found in the ayurvedic drug samples provided by the CPM MP Brinda Karat from a known manufacturing firm, the government informed the Lok Sabha today.

FIR in cognisable offence must
New Delhi, February 22
In the face of frequent complaints against the refusal of the police to register FIRs in many a cases across the country, the Supreme Court has ruled that the officer in charge of a police station was duty bound under the law to register the case in every cognisable offence once a complaint was lodged with him.

Magazine report on Scorpene deal contradictory: Pranab
New Delhi, February 22
Asserting that a weekly magazine’s report on the alleged role of middlemen in the Scorpene submarine deal with France was “riddled with discrepancies”, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today his ministry had already issued “contradictions” in this regard.

IAF accidents: Pranab sees flaw in training
New Delhi, February 22
Stating that lack of proper training was found to be the major reason for the large number of fighter plane accidents, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today told the Rajya Sabha that the Indian Air Force had to keep pace with technical changes for which various committees had been set up.

Railways tests
crash-worthy coaches
Lucknow, February 22
Indian Railways yesterday successfully tested the ambitious crash-worthy coaches designed by the Research Design and Standard Organisation here.
Senior design engineers from RDSO and hordes of curious onlookers witnessed the experiment undertaken at Alamnagar station on the outskirts of the city.
In video (28k,
56k)

Crocodile bank has new guest
Chennai, February 22
She is an American baby who loves to be cuddled like a child. The only difference is she is an alligator. Mr Harry Andrews, Director, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, said, “Ally, 1-metre long, is the first captive born American alligator in India.
She is the star attraction in all environment programmes conducted by us.”

IAF ferries relief material to Philippines
New Delhi, February 22
The Indian Air Force today despatched an IL-76 aircraft with 34 tonnes of relief material for the people of Philippines hit by a massive landslide that occurred on February 17.

Jaipur airport gets international status
Jaipur, February 22
The Sanganer airport of the Pink City has become the 14th international airport of the country. A formal notification was issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to this effect yesterday.

Lead fight against child abuse: UN tells India
New Delhi, February 22
The United Nations, while commending India’s openness to the issue of violence against children, has urged it to play a leadership role in protecting children from violence, abuse and exploitation.

Share details of N-deal in House: CPMNew Delhi, February 22
The CPM today asked the government to share all that it could on the ongoing negotiations and laying of documents relevant to the Indo-US nuclear deal in the House to save Parliament from a “national embarrassment”.

Bank robbery bid, 2 arrested
Mumbai, February 22
A gang of bank robbers was busted today following the arrest of two of its members when they tried to loot a branch of Vijaya Bank at Santa Cruz in suburban Mumbai.
The police said the five-member gang arrived at the bank shortly after it opened for business today.

Central staff defer strikeNew Delhi, February 22Central government employees have deferred their decision to go on an indefinite strike from March 1 over constitution of the sixth pay commission. The decision regarding going on indefinite strike from March 1 has been deferred by the Joint Council of Action of the Central Government Employees, council convener and general secretary J.P. Chaubey said in a statement here.
— PTI

New Delhi, February 22
The amendment to the Representation of the People Act (RPA) doing away with the mandatory domicile qualification for Rajya Sabha members came in for a severe attack in the Supreme Court from noted constitutional expert Fali S. Nariman, who said “it has opened the floodgates to power brokers with big money bags to get entry into the House.”

Mr Nariman, opening arguments before a five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, on the validity of the 2003 amendment to the RPA, said he failed to understand what was the real reason for effecting such a change in the law that amounted to changing the basic structure of the Constitution.

He said though the reason given by the government was that 10 per cent of Rajya Sabha MPs had got themselves registered as voters in the state other than their domicile to get elected and it also talked about the use of “money bags” in elections, but all these reasons were “flawed”.

“In fact, they have now opened the floodgates to big money bag owners and power brokers to descend upon the small people of the state and get elected. The reason given by the government is erroneous. It has changed the character of the Rajya Sabha, which is essentially a council of states.”

Mr Nariman, who completed his tenure as nominated Rajya Sabha member recently, told the court that he had raised this issue with the Law Minister and cautioned that “don’t make the Rajya Sabha a stock exchange for money bag holders from outside.”

The consequences of the changes in the law would be grave because there are nine states which send only one member each to the Rajya Sabha. “What will happen about the representation of these states in the House if all nine members are from outside,” he asked.

As the Bench, having Justices K.G. Balakrishnan, S.H. Kapadia, C.K. Thakker and P.K. Balasubramanyan as the other judges, asked the notice lawyer whether Parliament did not have the power to change the law in this regard, Mr Nariman admitted it had the power but it could not change the states’ representative character in the Rajya Sabha.

If they wanted to find some remedy to the so called use of “money bags”, they should have suggested an alternative remedy without changing the basic structure. “It could allow nomination of one or two members by a political party from a bigger state to send some of their talented leaders to Parliament, but it cannot be opened for all,” he argued.

Citing the debate in the Constituent Assembly on the issue, he sad Dr B.R. Ambedkar had clearly stated that the Rajaya Sabha was a council of states and its character could not be changed and that was why the framers of the Constitution had made provision that all 238 elected members of the House should be domicile of the state they represented.

New Delhi, February 22
As the UPA government prepares to face the wrath of the Left parties in Parliament on the Iran nuclear issue and the Indo-US nuclear pact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought to buy peace with the Marxists when he assured them that the Centre had conveyed its displeasure to US Ambassador David Mulford about the letter he wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on his criticism of President George Bush.

While the debate on Iran will take place in both
Houses of Parliament tomorrow, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is slated to make a suo motto statement on the Indo-US nuclear agreement on February 27, two days ahead of President Bush’s visit.

Belligerent Left parties, who have put the ruling combine in the dock on its foreign and economic policies, have been pressing for the recall of the US Ambassador on the ground that he had violated diplomatic norms in writing to a Chief Minister directly.The government felt the heat on this issue in the Lok Sabha on Monday when the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party walked out of the Lok Sabha to protest the Centre’s silence on what was described as a clear case of diplomatic impropriety.

It was only then that the government went into damage control mode. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran summoned David Mulford the same day to convey New Delhi’s displeasure on his breach of established diplomatic procedures. Senior UPA leader sheepishly admitted that they should have been more responsive to the senstiviies of the Left parties and taken early action in this case.

Following up on this, the Prime Minister made a pointed reference to this issue in the course of his reply to the debate on the President’s Address in the Rajya Sabha today when he agreed with the Left parties that the US Ambassador’s action was “unwarranted” and a clear departure from normal diplomatic practice. He also informed the House that the External Affairs Minister had already told Mulford trhat he should adhere to established protocol so that such incidents do not recur in future.

Dr. Singh’s response on the Mulford issue was being seen in government circles as an attempt to mollify the Left parties on the eve of the debate on the contentious Iran issue in Parliament tomorrow. The Left parties have accused the UPA government of voting against Iran at the IAEA under US pressure.Similarly, the Left parties have accused the Manmohan Singh government of having abandoned its independent foreign policy and showing a pronounced tilt towards the US.They have also planned huge street protests against President Bush during his India visit.

The Prime Minister, on his part, is expected to address their concerns and reassure the Marxists that India’s national and security interests will not be jeopardised while inking a deal with the US. UPA sources maintained that the two countries are close to an agreement on India’s plan to separate its civilian and nuclear facilities as a follow-up on their July 18 pact.

New Delhi, February 22
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the country was poised for 8 to 10 per cent rate of growth and the agenda of equitable development of the UPA government had given a sense of belonging to all sections of society.

Winding up the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, Dr Manmohan Singh said the growth prospects of the country had never been as bright.

The Rajya Sabha passed the motion by the voice vote with the BJP having earlier staged a walkout against the Prime Minister charging the party with pursuing divisive politics and not focussing on a development agenda during the NDA rule.

He said the armed forces were apolitical and secular and selections were merit-based. He said he had raised the issue of problems faced by Sikh students in France with French President Jacques Chirac who had assured that due consideration would be given to the Sikh community on the turban issue and necessary action would be taken.

Bangalore, February 22
Karnataka has suffered an estimated loss of Rs 250 crore in the past three days due to fears about consumption of chicken and eggs following reports of bird flu in Maharashtra.

Disclosing this to TNS on the sidelines of the 24th annual convention of the Indian Society for Veterinary Medicines here today, Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fishery Sciences University Vice-Chancellor R.N. Sreenivas Gowda disclosed that the financial loss had been calculated on the basis of decrease in consumption in the state as well as curbs on exports. He said poultry farmers were facing problems even in exporting eggs to neighbouring states.

Professor Gowda disclosed that the state had a total poultry revenue of Rs 1,700 crore out of which Rs 450 crore was realised from egg consumption, Rs 625 crore from sale of breeder stock and Rs 625 crore from sale of broilers. He said there were around 4,500 poultry farmers in the state and around 20 lakh persons were employed in the trade either directly or indirectly.

Meanwhile, the state is facing a severe problem in exporting broilers and eggs. Due to this, the rate of eggs has come down from Rs 40 for a tray of 30 eggs to Rs 20 for the same.

The State Animal Husbandry Department has on its part requisitioned the Centre for 42 lakh doses of vaccine for bird flu in case it hits the state. Professor Gowda disclosed that these vaccines were being kept in reserve for the state by the Centre and would be transported to the state only if needed. He said there was no move to carry out vaccination for bird flu in the state in league with the national programme on the subject.

New Delhi, February 22
Human parts and animal remains were found in the ayurvedic drug samples provided by the CPM MP Brinda Karat from a known manufacturing firm, the government informed the Lok Sabha today.

“Regarding one of the medicines, one of the laboratories confirmed presence of DNA of human species but the other laboratory has not confirmed the same. Regarding the other medicine, neither of the laboratories found DNA of any human origin,” Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said during Question Hour, adding a third sample was confirmed containing animal organ.

“We have sent reports to the Uttaranchal Government and also further information sought by them,” he said in reply to a series of questions on the matter.

New Delhi, February 22
The Army has brought down the technical specifications for mobile scanners, the purchase process for which has been hanging fire for almost two years now.

Officials have brought down the specifications for the penetration of the scanners from 150mm essential and 175mm desirable to 75mm, which will greatly compromise the security of the men and also the utility of the equipment. This especially when the equipment is being bought for deployment in the terrorist-infected areas of Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East.

The mobile scanners are to be used for scanning vehicles and cargo and commodities. However, by bringing down the specifications for the equipment the purpose of its deployment is defeated as these low specification scanners will not be able to penetrate the cargo properly and display its image for analysing and assessment.

Documents available with The Tribune point out that when the Request for Proposal (RFP) was initially floated in March 2004, it sought the penetration capability of 175mm equivalent of steel and the said specifications had the potential to effectively scan loaded vehicles. The RFP sought the transfer of technology to avoid future supply problems and the approval of the Atomic Energy Research Bureau (AERB) was also sought.

After the technical evaluation was completed in October 2004, two companies SAIC (USA) and Rapiscan (USA) qualified with the products. And when the financial bids were opened Rapiscan’s bid was found to be the lowest.

However, in August 2005 the Army issued another RFP where the penetration at normal systems scan speed was brought down to 75mm of steel with rest of the specifications remaining the same.

To ensure full scan from hub upwards without the corner cut off in fully loaded vehicle a machine with a capability of scanning 150 mm of steel would only work, they say. The whole purpose of buying such an equipment is defeated, they point out.

New Delhi, February 22
In the face of frequent complaints against the refusal of the police to register FIRs in many a cases across the country, the Supreme Court has ruled that the officer in charge of a police station was duty bound under the law to register the case in every cognisable offence once a complaint was lodged with him.

Emphasising its ruling in the case of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal once again in view of several cases of police refusal to register the case coming to the apex court, a Bench of Mr Justice H K Sema and Mr Justice A R Lakshmanan said “The provision of Section 154 of the Cr.PC is mandatory and the concerned police officer is duty bound to register the case on the basis of such information disclosing cognisable offence.”

The ruling came on a petition by a city-based woman, Ramesh Kumari on whose complaint in a land dispute case the SHO of Kapashera in the outskirts of Delhi, refused to register the FIR in September 1997. The woman’s complaint with the Delhi Commissioner of Police had also landed in the deaf ear and she was forced to move the Delhi High Court.

The high court refused to issue a direction for registration of the case on the ground that she had also filed a contempt petition against the SHO for not abiding by the law laid down by the apex court.

Taking note of it, the apex court directed the CBI to investigate the matter and register the case as per the complaint of the woman. The agency was directed to collect all relevant records from the SHO of Kapashera police station and complete the probe within three months.

New Delhi, February 22
Asserting that a weekly magazine’s report on the alleged role of middlemen in the Scorpene submarine deal with France was “riddled with discrepancies”, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today his ministry had already issued “contradictions” in this regard.

Replying to a supplementary on the indigenous production of defence equipment raised in the Rajya Sabha by the BJP member Ravi Shankar Prasad, Mr Mukherjee said the Outlook magazine had pegged the submarine deal at Rs 18,000 crore. However, there were discrepancies in figures, he contended.

Further, “both purchaser and the French embassy have denied any role of middlemen in the deal”, the Minister said.

To a specific query whether middlemen were involved in the deal, he said the Defence Procurement Policy, 2005, which had been put on the ministry’s website, had effected certain modifications in the earlier policy.

“The integrity pact with prospective suppliers envisages no role for middlemen in defence deals,” Mr Mukherjee said, adding that penal action would be initiated against any such person if his role was ascertained during investigations.

He also pointed out that in some cases, penal action had already been taken against middlemen after their role was established in defence deals.

Replying to another query, he said there had been a substantial growth of R&D base towards making the nation self-reliant in defence equipment.

On the Kelkar Committee set up to look into the modalities for increased private sector participation in defence production, the Minister said its report had been received. “We will take action on it after a thorough discussion,” he added.

New Delhi, February 22
Stating that lack of proper training was found to be the major reason for the large number of fighter plane accidents, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today told the Rajya Sabha that the Indian Air Force had to keep pace with technical changes for which various committees had been set up.

The minister, however, asserted that fighter aircraft accidents in the country had declined. The IAF jet accidents had come down from 370 during 1985-86 and 1994-95 to 276 during 1995-96 and 2004-05, he said replying to supplementaries during question hour.

He said the defence aircraft industry was undergoing massive technical changes and “we have to keep pace with it.”

At present, the manpower of engineers and airmen is adequate for the IAF’s commitments, the Defence Minister said.

He said four committees had been constituted to look into various aspects of the IAF. Mr Mukherjee said an expert committee was constituted by the government on December 30, 2004, to identify causes of aircraft accidents in the IAF and to recommend remedial measures.

The committee, in its analysis, did not attribute any aircraft accident to poor maintenance though a number of accidents were attributed to technical defects like failure of components or systems, material failure, system malfunction and design deficiency, he said.

Mr Mukherjee said it was not possible to shelve the inventory of MiG 21, inducted in 1963, as this would affect the training process of pilots.

New Delhi, February 22
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, who concluded his two-day visit to India today, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night as a follow-up to last month’s significant visit here by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan hosted a dinner for the Saudi Foreign Minister after his meeting with the PM , Foreign Office spokesman said today. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora also attended the dinner.

Prince Saud Al-Faisal conveyed to the Indian leadership that his country was determined to follow through expeditiously on various items of cooperation agreed upon by the two countries. Saudi Arabia felt that it would be important for the two countries to take practical steps and the visit of the Foreign Minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal to India was in that context. During the discussions it was agreed that a high-level economic delegation from India would visit Saudi Arabia at an early date to promote early implementation of agreed projects, including in the energy sector. The two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Lucknow, February 22
Indian Railways yesterday successfully tested the ambitious crash-worthy coaches (CWS) designed by the Research Design and Standard Organisation (RDSO) here.

Senior design engineers from RDSO and hordes of curious onlookers witnessed the experiment undertaken at Alamnagar station on the outskirts of the city. The Executive Director (Carriage), Mr P.K. Aggarwal, while talking to The Tribune, said the redesigned passenger coach had at its end sheer back arrangement, which had honey-combing design and worked as a buffer by absorbing shocks in case of a collision. At present, Shatabdi Express trains have a version of such an arrangement.

Two years ago, the design team at the RDSO had started working on improving crash-worthy features, keeping in view the growing number of derailments after collision.

“Accidents will continue to happen as they happen even under the best of conditions. The challenge for us is to reduce the impact of rail accidents”, points out Mr Aggarwal. The coach that was tested yesterday had been built at Railway Coach Factory, Kapurthala, as per the designs developed at the RDSO two years ago.

Chennai, February 22
She is an American baby who loves to be cuddled like a child. The only difference is she is an alligator. Mr Harry Andrews, Director, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, said, “Ally, 1-metre long, is the first captive born American alligator in India. She is the star attraction in all environment programmes conducted by us.”

The crocodile bank is housed 70 km away from the state capital. She is looking for help for her maintenance. Her ancestors are Americans, but she was born captive in the crocodile bank.

Though the crocodile bank is home to over 2,500 crocodiles, Ally is special. The cute little one educates as well as entertains the visitors.

She lets children cuddle her and touch her all over to know how an alligator differs from a crocodile.

Mr Andrews said, “She is a key attraction at all our education programmes. She lets visitors get up close and study her. She is very cool and calm and does not snap or bite.”

“So visitors, particularly children get thrilled when they are allowed to hold a baby alligator in one hand and a baby crocodile in the other and compare and contrast.”

He said, “American alligators are natives of the south-east USA and inhabit the nine-million-acre Everglades wetlands in Florida. Though alligators are not an endangered species, but the US law protects them in the areas they inhabit”.

He said, “They can live up to 60 years and females seldom exceed more than 9 feet in length, while males grow bigger. They breed in May-June and eggs incubate in 65 days”.

Mr Andrews said, “The mother watches over the nest and protects it till the hatchlings come out. Even after hatching, the young ones remain under the mother’s custody for many months.”

The crocodile bank has 14 of the 23 crocodile species found in the world.

New Delhi, February 22
The Indian Air Force today despatched an IL-76 aircraft with 34 tonnes of relief material for the people of Philippines hit by a massive landslide that occurred on February 17. The landslide had occurred in Leyte Province of Philippines where over 1,400 persons are feared buried and several hundreds injured.

An IAF spokesperson said the payload of relief material comprised tents, medicines, blankets, pre-cooked food. The IAF IL-76 departed this morning at 8.15 am for Manila in Philippines and would be routing via Bangkok. The IL-76 is expected to return tomorrow after delivering the relief material.

The mission has been undertaken by the IAF under the auspices of Ministry of Defence and Ministry of External Affairs. The Nagpur-based 44 Squadron of IAF IL-76 was tasked to undertake this
commitment.

Jaipur, February 22
The Sanganer airport of the Pink City has become the 14th international airport of the country. A formal notification was issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to this effect yesterday. This has paved the way for the construction of new terminal which will cost Rs 56.77 crore. The Airports Authority of India has already initiated action in this regard.

Sources said, as soon as the construction of new terminal was completed, as many as 10 international flights would be able to take-off simultaneously. It is expected that the construction work will be completed within an year. It may be recalled that the Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Prafulla Patel, had announced to upgrade the Jaipur Airport to the status of an international airport in December.

New Delhi, February 22
The United Nations, while commending India’s openness to the issue of violence against children, has urged it to play a leadership role in protecting children from violence, abuse and exploitation.

A UN press note stated here that UN Secretary-General’ s Independent Expert on Violence Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, during a recent visit to India, urged the latter to carry forward recommendations that would come out of the UN Secretary-General’s global study on violence against children to be presented to the General Assembly in October.

New Delhi, February 22
The CPM today asked the government to share all that it could on the ongoing negotiations and laying of documents relevant to the Indo-US nuclear deal in the House to save Parliament from a “national embarrassment”.

“As it was being kept in the dark, Parliament is facing a national embarrassment. When Senators, Congressmen and the US officials flaunt details about India’s negotiating positions, we don’t know what is actually happening. They seem to know more about Indian proposals than us,” CPM leader Nilotpal Basu told reporters here.

Mumbai, February 22
A gang of bank robbers was busted today following the arrest of two of its members when they tried to loot a branch of Vijaya Bank at Santa Cruz in suburban Mumbai.

The police said the five-member gang arrived at the bank shortly after it opened for business today. While one robber tried to corner the guard, two of his accomplices moved into the strong room. However, the security guard, Laxman Gawde, displayed presence of mind and opened fire at one of the robbers who along with his accomplices fled the scene.

The two robbers in the strong room were overpowered by staffers and handed over to the police.